Fuchi,
Here is the latest industry update from Real World:
realworldtech.com
The word from our AMD contacts have indicated that the K6-233 processors will continue to trickle into the market, but the K6-200 will disappear until after the first of the year (both boxed and tray). No word yet on the K6-266, but a recent price drop in the 233MHz price would seem to indicate that AMD is preparing to
make some 'room' for the 266MHz processor.
Cyrix appears to have plans to stop production of the 6x86MX PR166 processor by the end of the year. Recent price drops in the PR200 has caused the difference between it and the PR166 to become very small, so there is not a lot of reason to continue to produce it. At last glance, our sources indicated that it cost Cyrix between $70-$80 per unit to produce the 6x86MX, so dropping the retail price below $100.00 would be a losing proposition. The most ambitious estimates for the PR266 is early Q2 '98, but the 2x83MHz PR233 appears to be right around the corner. Look to boards with the SiS 5591 chipset to be the first on the 'official' supported motherboard list.
The industry is bracing for an SDRAM shortage in 1998 due to the modification of the design to support 100MHz bus speeds. Most SDRAM manufacturers cannot supply enough chips that will perform at the necessary speed to build modules for these higher bus speeds, and the modifications necessary to implement the changes will take from 6-12 months, by most analyst's expectations. What this means is that most users have purchased modules that will *not* work on the new 100MHz bus speed motherboards, and EDO will have an additional year or so of life on the Socket 7 boards as the price remains relatively low. Of course, SDRAM shortages will mean additional demand for EDO chips so expect that the prices of DRAM modules in general will likely go up for at least the first half of 1998
News for 12/7/97
Just as AMD has started making the boxed units available, we are bracing for another period of unavailable product. This time *all* processors will be in short supply until at least Dec 15. While no explanation has been given to us, we speculate that this is to make a 'clean' cutover to the new .25 micron chips. The anticipated date of release for the 266MHz chips was mid-December, and this appears to be right in line with that prediction.
We reported last time that the M Tech R548 would have the SiS 5591 chipset, however this was a typo. The R548 has the SiS 5582 chipset. The Gigabyte GA586SG does have the SiS 5591 chipset, and has official support for the 83MHz bus as well as an AGP slot. Bryan Davis' Cyrix Upgrade Advice Guide should have a review of this board posted shortly.
Does it mean that .27u MX was scratched and we are now waiting for .25u MX from NSM? I guess Brian Halla is sick and tired of IBM.
Joe
PS: What do you think about AMD calls at this point? |
